Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (v. t.) To hold back; to restrain; to keep within prescribed bounds; to curb; to govern.

2. (v. t.) To abstain from

3. (v. i.) To keep one's self from action or interference; to hold aloof; to forbear; to abstain.

4. (n.) The burden of a song; a phrase or verse which recurs at the end of each of the separate stanzas or divisions of a poetic composition.